Posts Tagged ‘Garlic’
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
I know it’s not very de rigueur as the food world seems to be obsessed with all things meaty at the moment, but over the past month or so, the wife and I have been making a bit of a concerted effort to eat less of the stuff. More for health reasons than anything ethical. Anyway, I’d been wanting to do a baked egg dish of some kind for a while, and then I came across this recipe for Chachouka from the excellent River Cottage Veg book (no this isn’t a plug).
Unless we’re super greedy, I’m not sure how Hugh thinks this will serve 4 people, so I’d read it at serving two. I also added a chilli to spice it up a bit. Finally, whilst this is a great veggie dish, I think it could be converted into something equally excellent with the addition of some minced lamb.
Ingredients
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion, halved & finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red pepper, cored, de-seeded and finely sliced
1 yellow pepper, cored, de-seeded and finely sliced
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
(more…)
Tags: Baked Eggs, Chachouka, Chilli, cumin seeds, Garlic, Onions, Paprika, peppers, River Cottage, Saffron, Tomatoes
Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Reading, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
One of the great things about working at the E5 Bakehouse has been hanging out with people from other parts of the food world. One of the crew who I’ve particularly enjoyed getting to know is Ruth. She’s one of those types who seems to have led an incredibly full life, and has been everything from a chef at (arguably) London’s first gastro pub, The Eagle, to a tattoo artist, and a bunch of other stuff in between.
Luckily for us, she’s landed at E5 after a 10 year stint as a private chef in Ibiza, and we’ve all been enjoying her cooking immensely. For me, amongst my favourite stuff that she cooks are her daals. They are never quite the same, but she riffs around a basic formula and then tweaks it depending on whats on offer. Anyway, she’s now got me craving daal at home, so I asked her for the recipe, and this is it. Or rather an approximation of it. I’ve tweaked it myself a few times, and whilst I’ve not quite reached Ruth’s pinnacle of daal domination, I’ve been pretty pleased with this version.
Ingredients
250g Chana Daal
3 cloves of garlic
2 green finger chillies
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin seeds
(more…)
Tags: bay leaf, chana daal, Chilli, chilli powder, Coriander, Cumin, cumin seeds, daal, Garlic, Ghee, Ginger, Meat Free Monday, Onions, raita, Smoked Paprika, split peas, Tomatoes, Turmeric
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Friday, March 16th, 2012
I’ve got a lot of love for the humble falafel. I think I first tried them in Egypt when traveling with a mate during university holidays, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I used to make a weekly, sometimes twice weekly, pilgrimage to a place called Just Falafs when I worked in Soho, but it sadly closed a couple of years ago as their landlord jacked up the rent and they couldn’t afford to stay. For a while, I was in a bit of a felafel wilderness, until I discovered that making your own is pretty easy.
These have a good hit of garlic in them, so if you’re not in to that, just tone down the quantities a bit. I like to serve them in pittas with a crunchy red cabbage salad (recipe below), a tzatziki of sorts (recipe from an earlier post here), some salad leaves and hummus, which I buy (sorry).
One final note, don’t be tempted to leave out the flour as it helps bind the mixture. If you leave it out your balls will disintegrate when you fry them.
Ingredients (makes around 10)
For the felafel
1 200g can of chickpeas (drained weight)
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
(more…)
Tags: Chick peas, Coriander, Cumin, Egypt, Felafel, Flat Leaf Parsley, Garlic, Lemon juice, Olive Oli, Onion, Pitta, Red Cabbage, Red Onion, Street Food, Tzatziki
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Travel | 3 Comments »
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Cheap cuts and slow cooking are very much de rigueur at the moment, so this recipe should be bang ‘on trend’. Or something.
Whilst making this yesterday, I was wondering if anyone has actually calculated the cost of energy used during slow cooking and whether that means cheap cuts are still worth it (Aga and Rayburn users aside). I don’t know what the answer is, but when you taste this slow cooked ox cheek ragu, you’ll soon forget about all that. It’s worth it.
Like the filling for my Ox Tail Sliders, you’re going to need a fair amount of time (4-5 hours) to cook the ragu, so this is weekend biznizz. Serve with a wider pasta, from Tagliatele up, to give the sauce plenty of surface area to cling to.
Ingredients (serves 2 hungry people)
500 g Ox Cheek
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 large stick celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
(more…)
Tags: Bay, Beef Stock, Carrot, Celery, Cheap Cuts, Chianti, Garlic, Italian, Onion, Ox Cheek, Pasta, Ragu, Red Wine, Rosemary, Slow Cooking, Tagliatelle
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 7 Comments »
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
We are pretty much slap bang in the middle of Vacherin season, which runs from late September to early April. This creamy, smooth, slightly nutty and super runny cows milk cheese is an Alpine speciality traditionally sold in round wooden boxes, cinched with a piece of spruce bark.
Vacherin is great eaten at room temperature with some bread, but a killer way of serving it is baked. Particularly when it’s been snowing. It’s like a fondue without the hassle and the Abigail’s Party baggage, and is great lunch for two.
Pre-heat your over to 180 – 200c, then remove all the plastic wrapping from the cheese, but leave it in it’s box. Slice a fat clove of garlic, and then using a sharp knife, pierce the Vacherin’s rind and slide in the slices. Pour over around 50ml of white wine, and then put the cheese into the oven to bake until it’s golden brown and bubbling (15minutes or so).
Serve it with whatever you like, but I like a good mix of raw veg like raddishes and carrots, some hunks of good sourdough, a few boiled potatoes (pink fir are particularly good), a pear and a bit of salad.
Then just dunk in your vehicle of choice, and get cheesy.
Tags: Abigail's Party, Alpine, Baked, Carrots, Chese, Cows, Fondue, Garlic, Milk, Mont D'Or, Pear, pink Fir, Potatoes, Raddishes, Salad, Season, Sourdough, Vacherin, White Wine
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Its as cold as a witches tit here in London at the moment. The kind of cold that gets into your bones, and wont shift until it’s made to. Which is where this chorizo and chickpea stew comes in. A bit of a riff on the Spicy Spanish Stew I do, this is hotter, spicier, smokier and has all the ingredients to give you that Ready Brek glow, but without having to shovel some unpleasant gruel down your neck.
I use Brindisa’s picante chorizo, as I like it the best, but you can use whichever cooking chorizo floats your boat. Don’t use the salami like cured stuff, as it doesn’t really work for this recipe. Lets crack on.
Ingredients (serves 3-4)
6 cooking chorizo
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium hot red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp maras biberi
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
(more…)
Tags: Brindisa, Chickpea, Chilli, Chorizo, Cold, Garlic, Hot, Maras Biberi, Onion, Piquant, Ready Brek, Smoked Paprika, Smokey, Spicy, Stew, thyme, Tit, Tomato, Weather
Posted in Dinner, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Friday, January 6th, 2012
This post should have gone out around Thanksgiving / Christmas time, but it didn’t. And now it’s too late. Story of my life.
BUT turkey is a much underused meat in this country, it’s low in fat, and if cooked right is pretty tasty too. So hopefully, this recipe will enable some of you to get your burger fix whilst being a bit healthier in January. Oh yeah, and sweet potatoes are officially a superfood now too. Think I turned that one around…
The long-ish ingredient list suggests that this is quite an involved recipe, but it really isn’t. Once you’ve got everything together, it’s pretty easy. The red pepper relish works really well with the burgers, as does a bit of creamed horseradish instead of ketchup or mayo. I like the robust sponginess of ciabatta with these, but feel free to use whatever bread tickles your fancy.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the patties
400 g turkey mince
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
(more…)
Tags: Burger, Ciabatta, Creamed Horseradish, Garlic, gruyere, Healthy, Onion, Red Pepper, relish, Spring Onion, Superfood, Sweet Potato, Tabasco, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Saturday, September 17th, 2011
Gyoza, dumplings, wontons, pot stickers, whatever you call them, I love them. They’ve fast become one of my favourite snacks. One of those things that when you think about them, you’ve got to have them.
I’d never really thought of making my own, but a chance encounter with a dumpling press and a packet of wonton wrappers in San Fran’s China town changed all that, and now I can’t stop cranking them out. Of course if I was a real expert, I’d be wrapping them by hand, but I’m not, and the $6 press does a pretty good job.
This Thai influenced recipe has a pork filling, but you can stuff these little guys with whatever you want really. You could do a variation with salmon or shrimp and chive, or maybe even tofu and shitake mushrooms. The cases we’ve found work best are Singapore style dumpling wrappers as they’re a bit thicker and give the pot stickers more substance.
One more thing, the pot stickers get fried on one side (which is how they get their name) and then steamed, so you’re going to need a wok or frying pan with a lid. Lets begin.
Ingredients (makes about 20)
For the pot stickers
250g pork mince
1.5 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped
1.5 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
3 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (more…)
Tags: Chili, Coriander, Dumplings, Garlic, Ginger, Gyoza, Mint, Pork, Pot Stickers, Scallion, Singapore, Siracha Sauce, Soy, Spring Onion, Thai, Wontons
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Snack | No Comments »
